AlienatedLabor
5th November 2012, 02:28
Is anyone else a fan of the Alternate History genre of fiction? I got heavily into it several years ago, and I've been following it ever since. Whether it's books, movies, video games, or anything else, anything that presents a serious attempt at looking at changes in history and the different paths the world could've taken is fascinating to me. How about you? Do you have any favorite books or authors?
For those of you who haven't read any alternate history books, you might be interested in some stories that deal with leftism and socialism as major parts of their plots. Off the top of my head, here are some examples of well-known published books that center on them. I'll tell you a little about the plot; one thing to remember, though, is that you might not agree with everything about the way historical figures and socialism itself are depicted. Don't shoot the messenger! In fact, I'd welcome any criticisms or discussions about the plots described.
1. The Back In the USSA series by Kim Newman and Eugene Byrne. In this book, it is the United States which undergoes a communist revolution in 1917, and not Russia. One thing to be aware of is that the stories use Newman's postmodern style of using both actual historical characters and fictional characters taken from famous movies or books as characters; some people think this is a novel and interesting approach, while others dislike it.
The alteration comes when Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt wins the 1912 U.S. presidential election, but is assassinated when he personally leads an attempt to break a labor strike at the Chicago Union Stockyards. Following this, Vice President Charles Foster Kane (from the "Citizen Kane" movie. See? Using famous fictional characters in the same context as actual history. You be the judge) becomes president, and under his leadership, the United States government becomes more repressive and corrupt, and class inequality spirals out of control. Meanwhile, the United States also joins World War I earlier in 1914, further fueling public anger as many perceive that Americans are pointlessly dying overseas in a war they shouldn't be involved in.
Ultimately, the unstable economic and political climate brings causes people to turn to Eugene Debs's Socialist Party, who leads a revolution in 1917 that topples the Kane Administration. But shortly after Debs's death, his protege Al Capone comes into power, and he establishes an authoritarian dictatorship (meant to parallel Stalin coming into power after Lenin. Again, you be the judge on this point). After World War II in this timeline, the main plot of the book sets in: an alternate Cold War, with on one side, the United Socialist States of America, and on the other, the capitalist powers led by the United Kingdom and the Russian Empire (which did not undergo revolution, and instead becomes a capitalist constitutional monarchy).
2. The Timeline-191 saga by Harry Turtledove. This long series of books begins with a Confederate victory in the American Civil War, after Robert E. Lee's Special Order 191 (detailing his plan to invade the North) is not dropped by a Confederate officer in 1862, allowing Lee to take McClellan's army completely by surprise, gain a decisive victory, leading to the Confederacy being recognized by the European powers and ultimately gaining their independence. Now, the North American continent is split between hostile nations, as an isolated United States faces hostile borders with British Canada to the north and the Confederate States to the south. The series starts with the book "How Few Remain," detailing a second war between the U.S.A. and C.S.A. in 1881 after the Confederate annexation of strategic Mexican territory, and is followed by the Great War trilogy (about an alternate World War I in this timeline), the American Empire trilogy (covering the interbellum period), and the Settling Accounts tetralogy (detailing an alternate World War II)
Socialism comes to play a major role in this story, as it comes to grow in the United States. Following his failure in the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln is voted out of office in 1864, but in his post-presidential career, he becomes a Marxist, speaking out against industrial exploitation and class inequality in the United States, comparing it to the continuance of chattel slavery in the Confederate States, and arguing in favor of change coming through peaceful democratic means, but warning that violent revolution is inevitable if peaceful means become impossible. Following the events of How Few Remain, where the war ends in
a Confederate victory due to the Confederacy having superior military leadership, as well as the backing and direct support of Britain and France (though their alliance with the European powers comes at the price of the CSA finally agreeing to end slavery and carry out manumission. Nevertheless, despite nominally no longer being slaves, blacks are still treated like dirt, not allowed to vote, and are still woefully oppressed). This leads to a swell of patriotic enthusiasm in the Confederacy, while U.S. culture becomes obsessed with someday gaining revenge against their now-hated enemy nation (meant to parallel French revanchism after the Franco-Prussian War)
In the aftermath of this, Lincoln oversees the establishment of a more mainstream U.S. Socialist Party, leading his wing of like-minded Republicans into the formation of a Socialist Party. This results in the Republican Party effectively declining into the margins, while the Socialists arrise as the main opposition to the capitalist Democratic party.
Years later, World War I breaks out in 1914, and from the start, war rages across both Europe and North America, as the United States (under Democratic president Theodore Roosevelt) sides with the German Empire and Austria-Hungary, while the Confederate States (under Woodrow Wilson) sides with Britain, France, and Russia. As trench warfare rages across the American continent, with the U.S. fighting on two fronts against the Confederacy and Canada, the U.S. Socialist Party under Eugene Debs speaks out against the war and calls for peace, while in the C.S.A., years of insitutional racism and oppression finally cause the disenfranchised African-American population (guided by the writings and ideals of Marx, Engels, and Abraham Lincoln) to break out in socialist revolution and set out to overthrow the government. Ultimately, the war ends in
victory by the United States, Germany, and Austria, as Russia breaks out in revolution in 1917, France is demoralized and suffers from widespread desertions, the Confederacy is distracted by the black rebellions, while Britain is spread thin fighting both in Europe and Canada. Following this, the United States and the German kaiserreich become the dominant respective military powers in North America and Europe. Meanwhile, in the Confederacy, the black Marxist revolution is ultimately defeated, but smoldering tensions still remain in its aftermath. Incidentally, in Russia, the revolution leads to an even longer and more destructive Russian Civil War, though it ultimately ends in the defeat of the communists and a Tsarist victory. Nicholas II's younger brother Mikhail is put on the throne as Tsar Michael II, and under his rule, Russia becomes even more of a repressive, absolutist monarchy
In the aftermath of this, the United States finally goes socialist, following the victory of Socialist candidate Upton Sinclair in the 1920 presidential election. Meanwhile, in the interbellum period, though all sides try to maintain peace, vengeance and radicalism still rumble, and when an alternate Great Depression sets in, it pushes the world further towards a second war. Soon enough, a new World War II breaks out, with
on one side, a Socialist United States (where the socialists had come into power through peaceful election, and not through revolution), the German Empire, and Austria-Hungary, against a still-autocratic Russian Empire, the Kingdom of France (defeat in WWI and the Great Depression leads to the rise of the right-wing monarchist Action Francaise party, which restores the Orleanist monarchy), a quasi-fascist Great Britain (in which Prime Minister Winston Churchill's Conservative party forms a coalition government with Oswald Mosley's Silver Shirts), and a fully fascist, white supremacist Confederate States, where a Nazi-like party has been elected on a wave of nationalist anger and a platform of raging anti-communism and scapegoating of African-Americans. Perhaps you can see where the latter will go...
3. This is a little more peripheral, in terms of how socialism is involved, but The Severed Wing by Martin Gidron features two alterations: Theodore Roosevelt's election in the 1912 U.S. presidential election, and Jean Jaures surviving his assassination. The main aspect of the story is that, under Roosevelt, the United States enters World War I earlier, brings about a faster Entente victory, and also settles the Treaty of Versaillles with much more reasonable and less draconian peace terms being imposed on Germany, allowing for a restoration of the European balance of power and no more major wars in the decades to come, therefore meaning no Nazism or Holocaust. However, socialism is involved in this story in that the still-living Jaures goes on to succeed in unifying the various European socialist movements into cooperating with each other across national lines. This leads to socialist governments coming into power and the formation of a Socialist Alliance between Italy, Spain, Hungary, and Sweden, which form an alliance against other, non-socialist European powers.
For those of you who haven't read any alternate history books, you might be interested in some stories that deal with leftism and socialism as major parts of their plots. Off the top of my head, here are some examples of well-known published books that center on them. I'll tell you a little about the plot; one thing to remember, though, is that you might not agree with everything about the way historical figures and socialism itself are depicted. Don't shoot the messenger! In fact, I'd welcome any criticisms or discussions about the plots described.
1. The Back In the USSA series by Kim Newman and Eugene Byrne. In this book, it is the United States which undergoes a communist revolution in 1917, and not Russia. One thing to be aware of is that the stories use Newman's postmodern style of using both actual historical characters and fictional characters taken from famous movies or books as characters; some people think this is a novel and interesting approach, while others dislike it.
The alteration comes when Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt wins the 1912 U.S. presidential election, but is assassinated when he personally leads an attempt to break a labor strike at the Chicago Union Stockyards. Following this, Vice President Charles Foster Kane (from the "Citizen Kane" movie. See? Using famous fictional characters in the same context as actual history. You be the judge) becomes president, and under his leadership, the United States government becomes more repressive and corrupt, and class inequality spirals out of control. Meanwhile, the United States also joins World War I earlier in 1914, further fueling public anger as many perceive that Americans are pointlessly dying overseas in a war they shouldn't be involved in.
Ultimately, the unstable economic and political climate brings causes people to turn to Eugene Debs's Socialist Party, who leads a revolution in 1917 that topples the Kane Administration. But shortly after Debs's death, his protege Al Capone comes into power, and he establishes an authoritarian dictatorship (meant to parallel Stalin coming into power after Lenin. Again, you be the judge on this point). After World War II in this timeline, the main plot of the book sets in: an alternate Cold War, with on one side, the United Socialist States of America, and on the other, the capitalist powers led by the United Kingdom and the Russian Empire (which did not undergo revolution, and instead becomes a capitalist constitutional monarchy).
2. The Timeline-191 saga by Harry Turtledove. This long series of books begins with a Confederate victory in the American Civil War, after Robert E. Lee's Special Order 191 (detailing his plan to invade the North) is not dropped by a Confederate officer in 1862, allowing Lee to take McClellan's army completely by surprise, gain a decisive victory, leading to the Confederacy being recognized by the European powers and ultimately gaining their independence. Now, the North American continent is split between hostile nations, as an isolated United States faces hostile borders with British Canada to the north and the Confederate States to the south. The series starts with the book "How Few Remain," detailing a second war between the U.S.A. and C.S.A. in 1881 after the Confederate annexation of strategic Mexican territory, and is followed by the Great War trilogy (about an alternate World War I in this timeline), the American Empire trilogy (covering the interbellum period), and the Settling Accounts tetralogy (detailing an alternate World War II)
Socialism comes to play a major role in this story, as it comes to grow in the United States. Following his failure in the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln is voted out of office in 1864, but in his post-presidential career, he becomes a Marxist, speaking out against industrial exploitation and class inequality in the United States, comparing it to the continuance of chattel slavery in the Confederate States, and arguing in favor of change coming through peaceful democratic means, but warning that violent revolution is inevitable if peaceful means become impossible. Following the events of How Few Remain, where the war ends in
a Confederate victory due to the Confederacy having superior military leadership, as well as the backing and direct support of Britain and France (though their alliance with the European powers comes at the price of the CSA finally agreeing to end slavery and carry out manumission. Nevertheless, despite nominally no longer being slaves, blacks are still treated like dirt, not allowed to vote, and are still woefully oppressed). This leads to a swell of patriotic enthusiasm in the Confederacy, while U.S. culture becomes obsessed with someday gaining revenge against their now-hated enemy nation (meant to parallel French revanchism after the Franco-Prussian War)
In the aftermath of this, Lincoln oversees the establishment of a more mainstream U.S. Socialist Party, leading his wing of like-minded Republicans into the formation of a Socialist Party. This results in the Republican Party effectively declining into the margins, while the Socialists arrise as the main opposition to the capitalist Democratic party.
Years later, World War I breaks out in 1914, and from the start, war rages across both Europe and North America, as the United States (under Democratic president Theodore Roosevelt) sides with the German Empire and Austria-Hungary, while the Confederate States (under Woodrow Wilson) sides with Britain, France, and Russia. As trench warfare rages across the American continent, with the U.S. fighting on two fronts against the Confederacy and Canada, the U.S. Socialist Party under Eugene Debs speaks out against the war and calls for peace, while in the C.S.A., years of insitutional racism and oppression finally cause the disenfranchised African-American population (guided by the writings and ideals of Marx, Engels, and Abraham Lincoln) to break out in socialist revolution and set out to overthrow the government. Ultimately, the war ends in
victory by the United States, Germany, and Austria, as Russia breaks out in revolution in 1917, France is demoralized and suffers from widespread desertions, the Confederacy is distracted by the black rebellions, while Britain is spread thin fighting both in Europe and Canada. Following this, the United States and the German kaiserreich become the dominant respective military powers in North America and Europe. Meanwhile, in the Confederacy, the black Marxist revolution is ultimately defeated, but smoldering tensions still remain in its aftermath. Incidentally, in Russia, the revolution leads to an even longer and more destructive Russian Civil War, though it ultimately ends in the defeat of the communists and a Tsarist victory. Nicholas II's younger brother Mikhail is put on the throne as Tsar Michael II, and under his rule, Russia becomes even more of a repressive, absolutist monarchy
In the aftermath of this, the United States finally goes socialist, following the victory of Socialist candidate Upton Sinclair in the 1920 presidential election. Meanwhile, in the interbellum period, though all sides try to maintain peace, vengeance and radicalism still rumble, and when an alternate Great Depression sets in, it pushes the world further towards a second war. Soon enough, a new World War II breaks out, with
on one side, a Socialist United States (where the socialists had come into power through peaceful election, and not through revolution), the German Empire, and Austria-Hungary, against a still-autocratic Russian Empire, the Kingdom of France (defeat in WWI and the Great Depression leads to the rise of the right-wing monarchist Action Francaise party, which restores the Orleanist monarchy), a quasi-fascist Great Britain (in which Prime Minister Winston Churchill's Conservative party forms a coalition government with Oswald Mosley's Silver Shirts), and a fully fascist, white supremacist Confederate States, where a Nazi-like party has been elected on a wave of nationalist anger and a platform of raging anti-communism and scapegoating of African-Americans. Perhaps you can see where the latter will go...
3. This is a little more peripheral, in terms of how socialism is involved, but The Severed Wing by Martin Gidron features two alterations: Theodore Roosevelt's election in the 1912 U.S. presidential election, and Jean Jaures surviving his assassination. The main aspect of the story is that, under Roosevelt, the United States enters World War I earlier, brings about a faster Entente victory, and also settles the Treaty of Versaillles with much more reasonable and less draconian peace terms being imposed on Germany, allowing for a restoration of the European balance of power and no more major wars in the decades to come, therefore meaning no Nazism or Holocaust. However, socialism is involved in this story in that the still-living Jaures goes on to succeed in unifying the various European socialist movements into cooperating with each other across national lines. This leads to socialist governments coming into power and the formation of a Socialist Alliance between Italy, Spain, Hungary, and Sweden, which form an alliance against other, non-socialist European powers.